


Skip Code

by imbadwholf



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-08 18:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3219758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imbadwholf/pseuds/imbadwholf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sherlock asks Mary how she knew about skip codes he will have to face something about his past and his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How did you know about skip codes?

“Mary?” Sherlock called to the lady sitting opposite her. She hmmed as a reply. "I have been meaning to ask you for a this for a while: how did you know about skip code?" Dropping the book she was reading she raised an eyebrow as a signal for him to explain himself further. "When John was in the bone-fire. You knew what the skip code was and how it works." Mary opened her mouth but before she could even say anything he grinned and interrupted her. "And before you say anything I know that it had nothing to do we your .... past profession."

Clutching her hand to her chest she faked being applauded  "I wasn't going to say that." Her reaction made him raise and eyebrow but he knew to keep quiet. "Well I saw your one not long before hand and I just applied the logic to the text tha-"

"Myn?" With an empty chuckle Sherlock said. "Mary I haven't given anyone a skip code."

Now it was the woman sitting opposite him to raise her eye with superstition "I have seen it Sherlock."

"I am not sure I know what you are referring to."

In a singing tone she teased him, "I think you do." After a moment of hesitation she added. "Well, I guess seen as it wasn't one text or message it wasn't a skip code per say but the technique you used to send her the message intrigued me so I looked it up."

It took Sherlock a few moments to process the information. After a gulp he asked. "Ho-how did you find out?"

 

 

* * *

 

The day before John Watson was in the bonfire.

Hurriedly Mary walked down hall after hall to try and rush towards the morgue. "Molly," She shouted as she walked inside the room. But she was greeted with silence and the empty room. Coming to conclusion that Molly was probably at the loo or doing some work she just sat down beside an empty operation table, the chair next to her had one of Molly's colourful jumpers draped around the back of it. Natural inquisitive she examined it with her eyes. It was then she first saw the piece of paper.

** Multiple folds;  ** opened and closed often to be read and re read/edited.

** In right sided pocket; **  Molly's right handed, so she wants it be easy access.

** Neat handwriting for the one word I can see ** ; time must have been taken to right this and therefore must be something she truly cares for. It’s Molly’s own handwriting.

** The paper is pretty old; **  maybe a year or mo-

"Hey Mary, I am so sorry." Molly rushed into the room  holding an array of folders and pages. "Work is just...ughhh right now. Have you been waiting long?"

Mary got out of her chair. "Oh no I am fine. I was a bit late as well. Was talking to John about Sherlock." The other woman had her back towards her at that very moment but anyone would notice her shrug when the two men were mentioned. 

With a bang the Doctor dropped her files on a table. "Please. Mary I know John must be cross at me, and you will want some answered, but please, don't hate me."

A mall burst of laughter lifted Molly's guilty eyes towards her friend. "I'm sorry, it's just. Bless you Molly. Of course we were upset but we know you and Sherlock are... I mean to say.... well I defiantly don't mind and I think John was too busy being cross at Sherlock to be upset." Molly still looked a bit anxious so her friend said in a soothing voice. "Honestly Molly, don't' worry." Nodding the woman reached for her jumper and slipped it on. "Oh. I meant to ask you something. What is on that paper?"

Shocked Molly's eyes widened. "Wh-what? This one? She asked while pointing to her right pocket and her blonde friend nodded. "Well... umm it's gonna seem silly."

With a shrug Mary informed Molly. "I'm sure it's not."

Smiling the two of them headed for lunch. "Okay."

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The code is revealed.

 Molly wasn't in much mood to talk so to start with she just handed over the sheet of paper for her friend to unfold.

“It’s a list... of flowers...”

“Yes.” The Doctor calmed herself. “I... made it.... I started to get some flowers after, after Sherlock ‘died’ and well I was curious.”

Nodding the blond lady took a look at the list.

  * One red rose
  * Three lemon bouquet
  * Seven purple orchid
  * Nine red roses
  * Five  yellow daises
  * Two emerald roses
  * Seven white yarrow
  * Two white roses
  * One orange rose
  * Eight ultramarine forget me nots



With a pondering face Mary took a photo and handed back the piece of paper to her friend.

 

-

 

“There see.” The same woman said as she produced her phone from her back pocket and showed Sherlock the photo, once she had found it. “How you knew she would record those bits of data about the gifts I’m not sure. But there it is. A skip-code of sorts that you left for molly to sort.”

Scanning the photo he sighed. “Oh really Mary.” In his mind palace he highlighted the appropriate words:

  * **One** red rose
  * Three **lemon** bouquet
  * Seven purple **orchid**
  * Nine red roses
  * **Five**  yellow daises
  * Two **emerald** roses
  * Seven white **yarrow**
  * Two white roses
  * **One** orange rose
  * Eight **ultramarine** forget me nots



“One lemon orchid five emerald yarrow one ultramarine... what in heaven’s name could that possibly mean? Never mind the fact these plants could easily have been sent to Doctor Hooper by anyone.”

“Ah hah.” His friend replied. “Well you see...”

 

-

 

“Molly  who has been sending you these gifts? I am not sure I understand...”

Taking a sip of her drink the young woman made to calm her nervous. “Okay but please, don’t think me mad. I thin- you see these got delivered to my step. First of the month. Every month. And they came with a little note. It had... something me and Sherlock used to joke about inside... and well I just presumed they were from him, maybe he got Mycroft to deliver them or one of his workers because of course Mycroft would be too busy to come to my house, I mean any of the Holmes’ are too important-” Taking a deep breath she stopped her rambling. “Anyway that’s what I thought.”

“That explains why he sent you them for the first... 10 months but what happened after that?” Coughing slightly Molly returned to her meal. “Oh of course! You meet Tom!”

It was with much pain that Molly winced at the mention of her ex. “Look Mary  please don’t look too into this..”

Grinning her friend replied. “What? As if you haven’t.”

“This is Sherlock we are talking about. It was probably to make me feel better for being alone, then I was with Tom and he didn’t feel quite so bad.”

“Maybe.”

 

-

 

“Yes! You see like Molly said. I wanted her to not feel alone! There is no skip-code involved.”

“Oh Sherlock you fool!” Mary said leaning back in her seat. “I’m not stupid. I cracked your code. I know what the flowers meant.”

“For heaven’s sake Mary you don’t honestly believe I was sending Mary flowers just to tell her one lemon orchid five emerald yarrow one ultramarine, do you? Because I think that takes quiet a bi-“

“Letters.”

Pausing Sherlock blinked and looked at his friend. “I beg your pardon.”

“Hmm? Oh yes. Letters.  The first letter of each word Sherlock, darling. I mean I looked it up on-line at first to learn about different codes because I knew it had to be in there somewhere. I just wasn't sure to what extremes you would go.”

“So you are now saying I sent her flowers to tell her... o I o f e y o u? I mean Mary that doesn't even make any mistakes.”

Signing Mary just smiled at him. “I said it was amazing how you knew Molly would note down those bits of information about each delivery but you didn’t. The one rose. It wasn’t meant to be ‘one’ but instead ‘individual’  which changes your anagram completely.”

Through gritted teeth Sherlock said.  “So now the thing includes both ‘one’ and ‘individual’, which is odd in itself, but I will humour you. ‘I l o f e y o u’ is still not a word.”

“Nope.” She agreed. “It’s a sentence made up of three words. If you know you’re numbers.”

Exasperated Sherlock lifted his hands into his hair and start to pace around his living room. “So now we have moved to numbers have w? Do tell, which one is a number? What words are supposed to form? What sentence?!”

“Elementary really. You used the Roman numerals instead of the British words for one of them and the thus..”

Slowly he breathed out in defeat. “Change the five to a v...”

Looking much like the cat who got the cream (or some such metaphor) Mrs Watson nodded. “Yes. Sherlock you sent Molly Hooper the Skip-Code telling her. I L O V E Y OU.”

Despite ninety nine per cent of her being agreeing with her educations it was not until the consulting detective slumped into his arm chair and lifted his hands to his face she knew for sure she was right. “Di-did you tell her? Mary, does Molly know?”

Pride was quickly replaced with concern for the obviously emotional man infront of her. “No... No well I didn’t tell her... she is very bright though, but when I spoke to her, I didn’t seem to think she understood.”

Slowly the hands in front of his face moved as he nodded to show he understood what Mary meant. Then with such a rapid pace he got up and headed to the kitchen were his coat was and took it off the chair it was resting on and instead draped it on himself.  Mary had whipped her head around and followed his actions so when he asked her. “You didn’t ask what was in the cards?” she was looking at him going into the hallway.

Almost shouting she answered. “Didn’t think it was any of my business.... Where are you off to Sherlock?”

Grinning he slide one show on. “Do you think it is any of your business now?”

“No.”

“Can’t you deduce it? You seem to be doing quite well so far.”

“Yes of course I can, but I would still like to hear you say it.”

Descending the stairs he called up to her. “I am going to speak to Doctor Molly Hooper about some strange deliveries she seemed to have received in my absence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you like the code? I came up with it at the end of an exam. Any feedback is great thanks x


	3. Chapter 3

Panting, he ran up the stairs and then along the corridor. Then once he had reached the right door he pated himself down and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. After a few, horrible, seconds he heard the latch move and then the door started to open. "Sherlock?"

"Hello Molly, we need to talk."

"Okay..." She walked backwards a little and allowed him into the room. “So, what is this all about?”

“Flowers.”

A puzzled expression took over her face “Flowers...” Slowly she started to realise. “Oh right, yeah flowers.”

Looking slightly defeated Sherlock lowered his shoulders. “Oh so Mary called you?”

“No.”

“Then how did yo-“

“I thought you said I mattered? Did I not matter enough for you to know I’m notice I’m quite clever?”

Shocked he blinked rapidly. “Of course it did but you never said anything.”

“When? When you came back?”

“It would have been nice.”

Placing a hand on her hip she tried to calm herself. “I... I tried to gage how you felt...”

“How... oh... the whole sex thing.”

“Yes!” Molly sounded almost exasperated. “I...he knew... from the start.  Sit down.” Without a word from Sherlock he sat down and listened to her. “I got your code pretty quickly, I remembered how the last time you had come back from a trip that lasted a few months , how you saw my list.  So this time I figured you would have used this opportunity to communicate. I’ll admit I had to do research a bit with the different codes and alter the words a bit but eventually... I got there. But when I did ... Mycroft found out.”

Automatically Sherlock’s eyes widened. “Mycroft? How?”

“I don’t know. To be honest for a while I have suspected that he has bugged my house and has people spying on be, and you ‘dyeing’ and me helping would have done nothing to help the situation would it?” Once he looked visibly calmer she continued. “So I got a lovely escort to his office, where your brother was sitting down. He said that it might not take long for other to ‘crack the code’ and he explained how many people wanted to hurt you even those who fully believed you were dead. ‘Beyond the grave retribution’ I think he called it. So he suggested I find a suitable ‘romantic companion’ and take them out for as long as it takes till you returned. Tom was my brothers best mate in college, a happy homoromantic and asexual man who was trained in martial arts so he seemed perfect. There would be no tension and he could help me if I was in danger. I ran it past your brother and he deemed the man ‘fit for service’ we publically courted and privately lived together like flat mates.” After a pause she looked down to her hand and fiddled with one of her rings. “It never went a miss to me that your flowers stopped after me and Tom were ‘together" for a bit, about the time the news would have reached you. Selfish I know but I thought maybe... maybe it was a sign you truly cared; maybe you wanted me to be happy. Or maybe the message was just finished. Or maybe you didn’t feel that way anymore. Or... what if there was no,” Tear started to trickle down her check like rain drops on a window. “Maybe there was no message. But then, Mary, she... she saw it.... she saw what I saw.... but of course I must be confused in some way because.... you.... didn’t care when I, I lied about the intimacy between me an-“

“I did.” He interrupted. “I did care. I still slightly do, even know when I know it’s false. The idea with you and him... it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I care for you so deeply Molly. So very deeply. I... I’m not sure what to say.”

They both chuckled. “You should tell me you love me, if you still do.”

Looking her dead in the eye he told her. “I love you, Molly Hooper.”

She grinned and blushed. “Then... um then you should um kiss me, if you want.”

With much joy he leant closer and put his arm around the back of her neck and when their lips were centimetres apart. “With pleasure.”

The kiss they shared was sweet and passionate and fully of love.  After a while they broke apart, both of them looked so very please.

“Just... just one question.”

Nodding she sorted out her hair a little. “Yeah sure.”

“I get you carried it around because you feel the same...”

The way he ended his sentence in a higher tone then the way he started it suggested he was actually asking her if this was true and then it dawned on her she had never really told him. “Oh yes, of course. I love you.”

Once he had let out a brief sigh of relief he continued. “But why when I was back did you continue with Tom?”

“You’re not going to like it.” Molly warned him. “I asked Mycroft.”

“Oh for the lo-“

Quickly she held her hands up. “I know I know.... but then he thought it would be best for my safety, not to quickly break it off, and then I thought it would be interesting to see how long it would take you to figure it all out.”

Faking appalled he asked her. “I was like an experiment.”

“Yes. My own personal experiment.” And then leaned closer to him and kissed him.“Okay?”

After wrapping his arms around her waist he answered her one word question. “More than okay.”

 

* * *

 

In the following months they: told their friends about their relationship and moved in together, got engaged (via skip code), and then married, only to then find out a bit later that they were expecting a baby (molly thought it best to tell him with words and not with flowers).

And for the rest of their life they were together, and very much in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait! I was struggling because I had so many ideas on how to end this story (to be fully honest I'm not 100% pleased with the way I went, but it seems okay) any feedback is lovely x

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback is lovely :)


End file.
